Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro has made his first court appearance after being captured by U.S. forces, defiantly telling a judge he is a “prisoner of war” and not guilty of the charges being pushed by the Trump administration.
Days after Donald Trump gave the green light to seize Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from their presidential compound in Caracas, the ousted leader appeared in a Manhattan court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to federal charges of narco-terrorism, cocaine importation, and weapons possession.
Maduro entered the court in shackles, where 92-year-old Judge Alvin Hellerstein, a Clinton appointee, read out a shortened version of the 25-page indictment against him.
Asked to confirm his name, Maduro responded in Spanish, giving his name and referring to himself as the “still President of Venezuela.”
He then told the judge he had been “kidnapped” and was “a prisoner of war.”
“I was captured at my home in Caracas, Venezuela,” he said through a translator.
“I’m innocent. I’m not guilty. I am a decent man,” he added.
The appearance of Maduro and his wife mark the first step in what is expected to be a lengthy battle over the legality of his arrest.
While the Trump administration has long viewed Maduro as an illegitimate leader who rigged elections, his lawyers are expected to argue he is immune from prosecution as a sovereign head of state.
The former union leader and vice president to Hugo Chávez has led Venezuela since 2013, but his authoritarian power was smashed on Saturday when he was captured as part of a U.S. military strike in the dead of the night.
U.S. forces had rehearsed their maneuvers for months, learning everything about the Venezuelan leader, including what he ate, his pets, and the kind of clothes he wore.
But after repeatedly claiming its pressure campaign against Venezuela was primarily about stopping the spread of illegal drugs coming into America, Trump has since revealed his true motivations: regime change in order to seize the nation’s rich oil reserves.
“The oil companies are ready to go,” he told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night.
Maduro appeared with his wife in court on Monday wearing wearing a short-sleeve navy shirt over an orange prison uniform.
Cilia Flores also declared herself “not guilty, completely innocent”, but showed signs of what her lawyer Mark Connelly described as “significant injuries” sustained “during her abduction.”
He suggested she may have a fracture or severe bruising on her ribs and would need a physical evaluation.
Throughout the short hearing, Maduro took copious notes, telling the judge that he wanted the ability to retain those notes as the case progresses.
The latest indictment by the Justice Department add to a narcotics-trafficking complaint brought against the Venezuelan leader in 2020.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (L) waves next to his wife Cilia Flores in 2015.
Carlos Garcia Rawlins/ReutersThe superseding indictment alleges that Maduro and other top Venezuelan public officials have spent the past two decades working closely with international drug trafficking organizations to ship illicit drugs into the U.S. while enriching themselves.
Maduro will remain in jail in New York, with his next hearing on March 17.
But dramatic scenes took place as the hearing came to a close when, according to CNN, a protester stood up and declared “you will pay for what you have done to Maduro,” prompting the ousted leader to defiantly reply: “I am a man of God” and “the President” of his country.
Maduro’s stunning capture has thrust American foreign policy into uncharted territory and ignited intense international debate over Trump’s actions.
The administration has been ramping up the pressure on Venezuela for months, assembling a massive military presence in the Caribbean, intercepting two Venezuelan oil tankers and killing dozens of people in legally dubious strikes on alleged drug boats.
But one of the last straws for Trump was reportedly a video of Maduro dancing to an electronic remix of his own speech, “No War, Yes Peace,” while at the opening of the International School for Women’s Leadership in Maracay, northern Venezuela, in late December.
According to the New York Times, Trump viewed Maduro’s dancing as “mocking” the U.S., which had days earlier carried out a strike on a dock in Venezuela that the president claimed was for drug trafficking.
Hours after Saturday’s strike, Trump revealed the U.S would will seize Venezuela’s oil reserves and “run” Venezuela - a country of about 30 million people - for the foreseeable future.
Trump has also threatened other nations with possible action, including Greenland, Cubu and Venezuela’s neighbor, Colombia.
“Colombia is very sick too,” Trump said on Sunday night. “It’s run by a sick man [President Gustavo Petro] who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States. He’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you.”
Asked whether that meant fresh U.S. military operations in Colombia, Trump replied: “That sounds good to me.”
